Learning....

 

Do you see all of these sweet crocheted baby bonnets and booties and sweaters.

 

They are all in Adirondack Mama's Etsy Store

and they are ALL NOT MADE BY ME.....

They are the handiwork of my UBER-talented twin.... Laura.

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A few weeks ago Laura bought a learn to crochet kit and some yarn at the craft store.  The rest is history.

She is a natural and she is G-O-O-D.

You see, I always wanted to learn to crochet, but being left handed, I never could find instructions that I could understand.  So, I stuck to knitting and never looked back.  UNTIL the other night when Laura spent the night.  Right there sitting Indian style on the floor of my sewing room I got my first-patiently-taught-and-easy-to-understand-lesson...from my master.

 

And so, over the course of a few days, I bought myself a really beautiful book and taught myself how to make little flowers.

 

And after I felt good enough at the flowers I got a bit ahead of myself and ambitiously picked a pattern for really beautiful mittens out of the book. I got right to working on them a week ago while the boys were skiing. I was visiting with my mom, drinking coffee and laughing in the lodge.

But in truth, I really wasn't ready for it.  I mean....I could barely do the stitches, let alone read a pattern!

What was I thinking?!?!?!

 

The cuff came out looking nothing like the picture and for some reason I used the kids pattern and it fit ME....so I knew that something was definitely WRONG.

 

And a thumb....are you kidding me?!?!?!

I just scratched that whole thumb warming concept in favor of a fingerless pair of mitts....that looked like crap.

And that, my friends, was almost the end of my crocheting career.....Almost.

That is, until my twin talked me through adding the thumb and helped me to decipher my pattern trip ups, etc.

 

And so today...while my poor house let out a huge sigh of relief at the sight of one of it's owners... actually sitting down and NOT coming at it's walls or cupboards or carpet.....

wielding a saw, a hammer, or a paint roller.

 

I sat on my couch with a cup of hot cider at the ready and started a BRAND NEW PAIR.

 

A pair with a perfectly shelled cuff.

And the makings of an honest-to-goodness thumb.

I'll let you see the finished pair when I am done, but I am really feeling good about it.  And it is all thanks to my sister.

Thank you Laura for your patience and love.  Oh yea, and for helping me to learn.